In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, Joab led out the armed forces. He laid waste the land of the Ammonites and went to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. Joab attacked Rabbah and left it in ruins. 2 David took the crown from the head of their king[a]—its weight was found to be a talent[b] of gold, and it was set with precious stones—and it was placed on David’s head. He took a great quantity of plunder from the city 3 and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes.David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then David and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.
War With the Philistines
4 In the course of time, war broke out with the Philistines, at Gezer. At that time Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Sippai, one of the descendants of the Rephaites, and the Philistines were subjugated.
5 In another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.
6 In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. 7 When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.
8 These were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men. 1 Chronicles 20 NIV
Leader is a position, a post, do you see that there is a difference between being just a title or effective to your title? There will come a time when you can't go out, when you have to pass the torch to youth, but this was not the time. It says David remained in Jerusalem and for everyone who has ever read the Bible, we know what happened here, so why the omission? We can see in sister passages I have linked above, the shame of his relationship with Bathsheba and the stiff penalties for his sin. When things are easy, the mind drifts to places that God would not be pleased to find His people in. David has set up an efficiency that Saul may not have had, he has picked brilliant generals, who are more than capable of battle, well skilled in the art of war, but lets not forget that Joab also needed reigned in. There is even justice on the field and it is the king who insures it, but like so many, he sees that he is doing well, and so it is with vacations. Some think they are Christians on Sunday, or Saturday, if you are caught up in all that, but work is a separate place, home, porn sites when no one is looking, for our religion we think a more outward thing, given to those eyes that are upon us. It goes much deeper than that. What of this though, that the Chronicler has omitted David's lust, his lies, his murder, his punishment, the legacy of his sons and their depravity? I think this is important and it reminds me of a few things.
- I have grown up in the time of "pushing the envelope", and while I think Christians should not be easily offended by others, we should be offended by sin itself, our own above all. Instead, I have always prided myself on how much it takes to make me blush, and how little I reckon the offense is to God, how lightly I esteem the payment of Christ.
- Ah, the payment of Christ, that blessed sea of forgetfulness. It is incredible and my words are a poor explanation, but for an example, a wee one at that, we had an Amendment on our ballot this year, #4, and it allowed that those who have been punished for a crime be brought back in such a manner as it is paid. It restores to them their rights as citizens to vote. I have always been in favor of such a thing, and find it so hypocritical when I consider my wife, for my life was way more gross and belligerent, only I didn't get caught. I overdosed more than once when I was young, drove drunk and challenged sanity more times than I can count, but here I am, practically an angel on the books of men. My wife was not able to finish nursing school for a charge in her past, something she hasn't been around in years, yet the debt remains. David paid a massive debt, just read the links above, and then read this.
- i. “David’s fall should put those who have not fallen on their guard, and save from despair those who have.” (Augustine) . Well put, Eve pointed at the snake, Adam pointed at Eve, Saul made pitiful excuses and would not accept his punishment as right, but David says, "against You and You only have I sinned." He mourns his sin and God counts it to him as faith unto righteousness. You don't see yourself in the same predicament if you want more, if you want to see David destroyed. God is looking at your every thought, and so how ungrateful a servant am I and how delusional am I, if I do not wish for others to see, and for all to be saved? Who, by God's measure of the heart and the thoughts, can say, I am not a murderer, I am not a liar, I am not an adulterer, I am not covetous, I am not a thief? Only the proud, and God hates pride.
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. Matthew 18: 21-22
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103: 12-14
We cannot justify ourselves, CANNOT, but we can ask for forgiveness.
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